Siân Pritchard appointed new AEA President
In its 150th year, the Agricultural Engineers Association’s (AEA) newly elected president Siân Pritchard, managing director of KUHN Farm Machinery, has outlined her commitment to encouraging new people into the industry and engaging with social media to support the AEA’s campaign, ‘We are Land Based Engineering’.
Siân is from a farm machinery background and her family farms on the Welsh border, and, following various machinery manufacturing roles on the continent, she became managing director of KUHN Farm Machinery, based in Telford, Shropshire, in 2009. Alongside successfully leading the brand over the last 16 years, her passion for encouraging young people into the industry has always been a key focus, and one that she hopes to develop further in her time as AEA president.
“Not enough young people know about our sector and many simply don’t see it as a career option – that must change. The AEA’s campaign is there to inspire the next generation and highlight the opportunities for young people in agriculture. No one else is going to tell our story for us, we have to show how great it is. Tools such as social media have a crucial role, as this is where our next engineers are taking their inspiration from. We need to be the ones to provide them with it.”
Beginning her presidency on 1 April 2025, Siân becomes the first ever female president of the AEA, in what is a landmark 150th year for the association. The highlight of the milestone year is a black-tie anniversary dinner at the Science Museum, London, in November. Siân says it’s a huge privilege to have the opportunity to lead at a crucial time for the sector.
“It’s a tremendous honour to serve as president in this special 150th anniversary year. It marks a century and a half of innovation, resilience, and contribution to British farming, food production, land management and the wider economy. But while we celebrate that history, we must keep our eyes firmly on the future by adapting, evolving, leading, and finding solutions to challenges we face. Something the AEA has always done,” concludes Siân.
